Sena paid MNS men ₹30cr each to switch sides: Raj
MUMBAI:
Two days after the defection of six of his corporators to the Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday slammed cousin Uddhav saying he poached all of them for ~30 crore.
“I have got the information that each one was paid ~5 crore each to switch loyalties. Where did the Sena get this money to buy our corporators?” Raj said at a press conference at his residence in Shivaji Park.
He also warned Uddhav he will exact revenge against him for indulging in dirty politics. “I never expected such a dirty act from the Shiv Sena and from Uddhav.
This was an act that betrays the ‘Marathi manoos’. I will never forget their act and they will realise the consequences in the future,” he said.
The defection last week left the MNS with just one corporator in its kitty in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The party also has only one legislator in the state Assembly. The setback for the MNS comes just as Raj was looking to strengthen his organisation.
The tussle between the warring cousins is now likely to be renewed. The MNS registered its protest on social media and thro-ugh posters targeting the Sena.
Raj also alleged the Sena was deliberately spreading misinformation that he facilitated the entry of the six corporators to the Sena to counter the BJP. “The Sena is feeling guilty and hence it is spreading such misleading information. Why six, I would have sent all seven to them…. Balasaheb (Sena founder) never taught us such politics,” he said.
The defection of the MNS corporators came a day after the Sena lost the Bhandup by-election to the BJP, and the latter taunted Uddhav saying it was just matter of months when his party would be displaced in the BMC. Following the defection of MNS corporators, the Sena’s strength in BMC has gone up from 84 to 90.